Editor's Review
The pitch:
13cabs puts Australia's traditional taxi fleet into a ride-hailing shape. You book from the map, watch the car approach, and pay the metered fare by card in the app or in cash to the driver. The name carries the argument the company wants to make against its rivals: the meter is regulated, so a wet Friday night costs what a Tuesday morning costs.
What it does well:
Rides can be scheduled ahead, which covers the trips people most often want a taxi for - an early flight, a hospital appointment. Wheelchair accessible vehicles can be requested directly, and this fleet has far more of them than the app-only operators. A fare estimate appears before you confirm, and receipts land in the account afterwards, which matters to anyone claiming expenses.
Why the rating is low:
At 3.42 stars the app sits well below its competitors, and the reasons are structural rather than cosmetic. It can only dispatch a car that exists: in outer suburbs and at peak times a booking may sit unmatched, or be accepted and then abandoned, and there is no surge mechanism pulling extra drivers onto the road. Reliability therefore swings enormously by city and by hour. The software is plainer and slower than the competition too, with a booking flow that takes more taps than it should.
Features
Map booking with live tracking of the assigned taxi
Scheduled bookings for a chosen date and time
Regulated metered fares with an estimate shown before you confirm
In-app card payment or cash to the driver
Wheelchair accessible vehicle requests
Trip receipts stored in the account for expense claims
Pros
Metered pricing means no multiplier during rain or peak demand
Advance bookings are handled more dependably than by app-only operators
Accessible vehicles can be requested rather than hoped for
Cash remains an option for passengers who will not store a card
Cons
Driver availability thins out in outer suburbs and at busy hours
Bookings can go unmatched or be dropped after acceptance
The interface is slower and more dated than rival ride apps
Useful only in the Australian cities the fleet covers
Questions people ask
Does 13cabs work outside Australia?
No. It dispatches licensed taxis in the Australian cities where the fleet operates, and there is nothing for it to do elsewhere.
Is the fare really fixed?
Fares run on the regulated taxi meter, so no demand-based multiplier is applied. The total still moves with traffic and route, and booking or card fees may be added.
